New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 8th November 2019
Today's new releases include baroque albums from Jakub Józef Orliński, Rinaldo Alessandrini and Alison Balsom, an homage to Enrico Caruso from Roberto Alagna, Ives from Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, and Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet on DVD and Blu-ray, starring Stéphane Degout and Sabine Devieilhe.
In the wake of a hugely impressive Faust for Christophe Rousset on Bru Zane (a Gramophone Editor's Choice this month), the French lyric tenor makes his debut on Deutsche Grammophon with excerpts from some of his recent and upcoming roles, including two Rodolfos (from La bohème and Luisa Miller), Verdi’s Duke of Mantua and Alfredo, Donizetti’s Edgardo and Nemorino, Massenet’s Werther and Chevalier des Grieux, and Tchaikovsky’s Lensky.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
In the wake of his triumphant last-minute step-in as Rinaldo at this year’s Glyndebourne Festival, the Polish countertenor’s second solo album features arias from Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula, Agrippina, Muzio Scevola and Orlando as well as music by Orlandini, Cavalli, Scarlatti, Bononcini and Boretti; eight of the arias here are world premiere recordings.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Alagna pays homage to the singer he considers to be ‘the greatest tenor of all time’ with a programme inspired by Caruso’s own recording career at the very beginning of the twentieth century, with repertoire including arias by Pergolesi, Handel, Massenet, Cilea, Gomes and Puccini (most surprisingly, Colline’s Vecchia zimarra from La Bohème, which Caruso sang in at seconds’ notice when a colleague lost his voice mid-performance in 1916).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
As well as Johann Sebastian's four great Orchestral Suites BWV1066-1069, Alessandrini and his musicians present works in the same mould by his cousins Johann Bernhard (1676-1749) and Johann Ludwig (1677-1731), pieces which JS had copied out to enable him to perform them with the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Ives: Symphony Nos. 3 & 4, Selected American Hymns
San Francisco Symphony & Symphony Chorus, Michael Tilson Thomas
The San Francisco Chronicle described the performance of the Fourth Symphony on this live recording from 2017 as ‘every bit as exciting, dizzying and unpredictable as one could ask’; the Symphony Chorus also contribute stirring accounts of many of the hymns which are quoted in each symphony, including Nearer, My God, To Thee, Sweet By-and-By and Beulah Land.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The British trumpeter and her ensemble celebrate what she describes as 'the golden age of the trumpet' with a programme of Bach, Handel, Purcell and Telemann, beginning with the Music for the Royal Fireworks and also including excerpts from the Christmas Oratorio and the Funeral Sentences for the Death of Queen Mary.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Savall's long-awaited first recording of Messiah features Rachel Redmond (soprano), Damien Guillon (countertenor), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor) and Matthias Winckhler (bass); his Handel discography to date includes acclaimed accounts of the Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks and Dixit Dominus.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Ambroise Thomas: Hamlet (DVD)
Stéphane Degout (Hamlet), Sabine Devieilhe (Ophélie), Laurent Alvaro (Claudius), Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo (Gertrude), Nicolas Legoux (Polonius); Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Choeur Les Eléments Louis Langrée, Cyril Teste
Filmed at the Opéra Comique last Christmas, Cyril Testé’s production restores Thomas’s original (if very unShakespearean) ending, in which the Prince of Denmark survives; reviewing opening night, BachTrack praised Degout’s ‘terrific’ Hamlet and Devieilhe’s ‘superb’ Ophélie as well as the ‘excellent direction’ of Louis Langrée.
Available Format: DVD Video
Ambroise Thomas: Hamlet (Blu-ray)
Stéphane Degout (Hamlet), Sabine Devieilhe (Ophélie), Laurent Alvaro (Claudius), Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo (Gertrude), Nicolas Legoux (Polonius); Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Choeur Les Eléments Louis Langrée, Cyril Teste
Picture format: HD 16:9
Sound format: PCM stereo and DTS-MA 5.1
Available Format: Blu-ray
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